And we are off (well, almost!)

Time has finally come. Tomorrow morning we will be heading to the airport, destination Italy. At the moment we are a bit stressed and overwhelmed by the amount of things to do and remember but I am sure it will all be worth it once we get to Pescara. And the good thing is that Rob and I will finally be able to nap; as soon as we are at my parents' house, Emilia will receive all the attention she needs and we will rest FOREVER! 

So, with Emilia's British passport in hands (it arrived a couple of days ago, did I tell you?) and everything packed, we are ready to start this new adventure. Getting ready for a trip with a baby is no pic-nic and there are so many things to remember to pack. Also, we are going for Christmas, so all the gifts and festive outfits need to be packed too. I usually pack all at once and make a list of what I have packed so that I have an overview of what I am bringing. It always works. This time, however, I have been throwing things into the suitcase over the course of a week and have no recollection of what I put in there. Let's hope the essentials are all in. 

So, wish us luck and pray everything goes well. I will update you from Italy.

I am legit!

Following our successful trip to the American embassy, this morning we received Emilia's American passport and consular report of birth abroad. She is now 100% legit and most importantly she can fly!!! Pescara, here we come!!

A passport for Emilia: part 2

If you follow this blog, you already know what happened in part 1 of this chapter.

So, yesterday morning, Rob, Emilia and I visited the UK passport office for the second time. The night before we double checked again that we had all the documentation needed and hoped for the best. Last time they rejected our photos (as they were too bright) and also asked Rob to leave his passport for verification but since he had to fly to NYC we couldn't proceed with the application. Now, I am afraid to say that there will be a part 3 of this chapter. Unfortunately, we didn't come home with a successful application. I am sure you are wondering what the problem was this time? Well, they rejected our photos one more time. The interesting thing is that they do say that they are very flexible for baby's photos passports as they understand the difficulty in getting the pictures right. Wow, flexibility must have a different meaning in this office! Anyhow, Rob and I were not happy about the news and insisted as much as we could that they approved the application. In the end the girl at the till was tired of us, I think, and wanted to go on with her day, and that's probably why she accepted the pictures. However, she doesn't have the final say in the process, so we will see what happens next. The pictures will have to be scanned and we can only pray that they scan well, otherwise, they will contact us to send new pictures in and that will slow the process down incredibly. I don't mind saying that I got a bit stressed by all this, let's just hope we have a passport, from whatever Country, by December 6th. I need to go home.

A passport for Emilia - Part 1

On December 6th we will be taking our first fight with Emilia. If everything goes well (fingers crossed!) we will all be flying to Pescara as a family. For this, we need a passport for Emilia. As the daughter of American and Italian parents, Emilia is entitled to apply both for an American and an Italian passport. Moreover, being born in the UK and since Rob established permanent residence in this Country, she can also apply for a British passport. Rob and I are both very keen in creating as many possibilities as possible to facilitate Emilia's future. By having these three passports she will have access to many countries should she decide to study, work, and live abroad. You can never have too many doors open in life.

While we are very eager to have three passports for Emilia, we had to realise that applying for a passport is no fun, especially for a baby who was born in the UK but neither parents is British. There is a lot of bureaucracy and paperwork involved. The adventure started a couple of weeks ago when we took Emilia to a photographer to get baby passport photos. As you can imagine, it's not easy to have a picture of a baby that complies to all the passport regulations. The baby cannot cry, cannot smile, cannot be held by a parent...too many restrictions for a two month old baby! But, Emilia proved us wrong, she was incredibly good and the pictures were taken in a matter of seconds. On Friday November-2nd, then, Rob and I went to the UK Passport Office in Victoria to apply for a British passport for baby Emilia. My mum and grandmum were in town, so at least they could watch the baby while we were out, much easier than taking her with us. Getting there was super easy and the place was super organised, there were lots of people but it took no time to be called. The bad news is that our application wasn't successful. First of all, they thought the pictures were too bright and wouldn't scan. We were livid, the photographer assured us that they would be just fine. Second of all, they asked Rob to leave his passport for all the checks and verification. Of course, Rob had to fly to NYC in two days. So no deal. We had to make another appointment, the earliest they could do was November 19th. Let's hope it will work out this time. We need a passport in three weeks!

So, the British option is pending. Don't get me started on the Italians, since they are still processing my registration to be officially resident in the UK ( I sent the application back in July!) and then they will start processing Emilia's. By the time she turns 18, maybe, we'll have an Italian passport. Oh joy! So, the American option was our last resource. Rob made an appointment with the American embassy for this morning at 8am. He had to fill in not one but three applications and we spent most of last night checking that everything was in order and that we had all the documentation needed. We didn't want to make any mistake this time. The annoying thing is that the American embassy requires the baby to be present at the moment of the interview. So, Rob and I tried to schedule the feeds so that we wouldn't have too much trouble at the embassy but as you know, a baby's routine is very unpredictable. Also, to make things worse, at 3.15am, about an hour after we fed Emilia, the fire alarm went off. When we heard the excruciatingly loud noise in the middle of the night we couldn't believe what was happening. Of all the nights the fire alarm could go off, yesterday was definitely the worst! Oh well, I tried to laugh at the situation. I must say, I was amazed at the speed my brain worked at that hour, and in seconds I got dressed and grabbed all the things we may have needed for Emilia while out: dummy, formula, hat, blankets, toys. The impressive thing was that Emilia didn't wake up, not only she was still sleeping in the flat, but she kept still while we were going down the stairs in a super hurry, and outside when the fire brigades arrived. Now we know, when she is out, she is out, no need to lower the tv or whisper in the house! Anyway, despite the horrible start of the day, we made it to the embassy twenty minute early for our 8am appointment, the queue wasn't too bad and by 10.30am we left with another official American citizen in the house. I am outnumbered now! The passport should arrive by December 1st, which means that even if the British passport won't arrive in time, we will still be able to fly to Pescara. That will be another interesting adventure!